I have been raising a batch of Keyhole Cichlid fry for the past four months. I decided to let the parents raise the fry in their species 50g planted tank. The only things I did were tank maintenance and feeding them prodigious amounts of BBS!
Every single baby fish is in excellent health. There are no genetic defects. Every fry that made it to free swimming has survived. However, the parents did an early cull of the eggs and then another cull of early wigglers. IDK if there was anything wrong with these eggs/wigglers or if the parents got hungry or decided they just didn't need so many.
This causes me to ask about the role of allowing the parents to cull their eggs/wigglers. Either the parents know what they are doing, or I got very lucky.
When raising cichlids, is it important to allow the parents to raise them as opposed to separating the eggs/fry? Does separating the eggs/wigglers from the parents introduce defects to the spawn in order to get the highest yield? I'm asking because I've not read anything about this. Some people separate, some allow the parents to raise.
I have read that if a species is always raised by separating the eggs, then they may lose the parenting instincts and over time require intervention in order to breed successfully.
Every single baby fish is in excellent health. There are no genetic defects. Every fry that made it to free swimming has survived. However, the parents did an early cull of the eggs and then another cull of early wigglers. IDK if there was anything wrong with these eggs/wigglers or if the parents got hungry or decided they just didn't need so many.
This causes me to ask about the role of allowing the parents to cull their eggs/wigglers. Either the parents know what they are doing, or I got very lucky.
When raising cichlids, is it important to allow the parents to raise them as opposed to separating the eggs/fry? Does separating the eggs/wigglers from the parents introduce defects to the spawn in order to get the highest yield? I'm asking because I've not read anything about this. Some people separate, some allow the parents to raise.
I have read that if a species is always raised by separating the eggs, then they may lose the parenting instincts and over time require intervention in order to breed successfully.
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